Earliness 1975

Helen Frankenthaler made this painting, Earliness, with thin washes of color, probably on a canvas laid out on the floor. It looks like she coaxed the color into being. I'm imagining Frankenthaler in her studio letting the paint do its thing; the stain soaking into the canvas like dye on fabric. Look how she teases out subtle variations from a mostly yellow palette. It is like a landscape with a hot, bright sun. There is a feeling of the ethereal, but then, smack dab in the middle, she adds these contrasting marks, pulling us back to earth. It reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell, who also walked that line between lyricism and toughness. I think artists keep each other company across time, like a never-ending conversation where we argue and agree, influence, and push back. What a wonderful thing it is to pick up a brush and enter into that conversation.